Tiffany Pate and Malia Kency participate in practice to prepare for the upcoming season. Photo by Brian Bowden.

Expectations are at an all-time high this season for the girls varsity basketball team at Briarwood Academy, according to Head Coach Keith Johnson.
"Our goals are state championship or bust. I don't want my girls to have any mentality other than that," said Johnson. Last season, the team persevered through regionals, but lost in the elite eight of the state tournament. They finished with an overall record of 23-4, but three of their losses came to them courtesy of their longtime rival Gatewood School. "If we can beat Gatewood, that'll be the key," said Johnson.
However, beating Gatewood might be easier said than done considering Johnson has never won a game on their court as a coach or a player. "If we can beat them at home, it will give us a lot more confidence going into their place," said Johnson. Although Johnson won a state championship as a player at Briarwood Academy in 1999 over Trinity Christian, the losses to Gatewood still haunt him. "This is the year we can get them, I hope," said Johnson. He described the atmosphere at Gatewood as cage-like where the crowd feels like they are on top of you, very similar to the ones you see on a collegiate level. "It's burning up in there as well with all the people," said Johnson.

To read more on this story, see the Sun., Nov. 10, edition of The McDuffie Progress.